The scene now shifts to Antioch of Syria. It was a very significant town because from there the church launched its major missionary offensives to the uttermost parts of the earth. Luke recorded events in the early history of this church because of its significant initiatives. The disciples in Antioch reached out to Gentiles with spiritual aid, and they reached out to their Jewish brethren in Jerusalem with material aid.
"With the ratification by the Jerusalem mother church of Peter's action in admitting the first group of Gentiles into the Church as his preface, Luke now launches into the main theme of the book of Acts--the expansion of the Church into the whole Gentile world. Again he emphasizes the part played by anonymous believers in spreading Christianity."471
11:19 Luke's reference back to the persecution resulting from Stephen's martyrdom (7:60) is significant. It suggests that he was now beginning to record another mission of the Christians that ran parallel logically and chronologically to the one he had just described in 8:4-11:18.472
Luke had already pointed out that as a result of Stephen's execution the gospel had spread throughout Judea and Samaria (8:4). Now we learn that it was that event that also led to its being taken to the uttermost parts of the earth. While Philip went to Samaria, other refugees went to the country of Phoenicia north of Caesarea, the island of Cyprus (cf. 4:36; 21:16), and the city of Antioch. Those disciples, who were Jews, were evangelizing other Jews exclusively.
11:20 Some Jews from Cyprus, Barnabas' homeland not far from Antioch, and Cyrene, in North Africa (cf. 2:10; 6:9; 13:1), visited Antioch (cf. 13:1). Since Antioch was at this time the third largest city in the Roman world, after Rome and Alexandria,473they may have travelled there on business. Antioch was about 15 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea on the Orontes River and 300 miles north of Jerusalem. It was the capital of the Roman province of Syro-Cilicia, north of Phoenicia, and was one of the most strategic population centers of its day. It contained between 500,000 and 800,000 inhabitants about one-seventh of which were Jews.474Many Gentile proselytes to Judaism lived there.475Antioch was also notorious as a haven for pleasure-seekers.476
"The Roman satirist, Juvenal, complained, The sewage of the Syrian Orontes has for long been discharged into the Tiber.' By this he meant that Antioch was so corrupt it was impacting Rome, more than 1,3000 miles away."477
"It seems incredible but nonetheless it is true that it was in a city like that that Christianity took the great stride forward to becoming the religion of the world. We have only to think of that to discover there is no such thing as a hopeless situation."478
"In Christian history, apart from Jerusalem, no other city of the Roman Empire played as large a part in the early life and fortunes of the church as Antioch of Syria."479
Some of the Hellenistic Jews also began sharing the gospel with Gentiles. This verse documents another significant advance in the mission of the church: for the first time Luke recorded Jews aggressively evangelizing non-Jews. The Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius, who were both Gentiles, had taken the initiative in reaching out to Jews and had obtained salvation. Now believing Jews were taking the initiative in reaching out to Gentiles with the gospel.
The Antiochian evangelists preached "the Lord Jesus."For Gentiles "Christ"(Messiah) would not have been as significant a title as "Lord"(sovereign, savior, and deity). Many pagan Gentiles in the Roman Empire regarded Caesar as Lord.
11:21 Luke stressed the Lord Jesus' blessing of their witness. "The hand of the Lord"is an Old Testament anthropomorphism that pictures God's power (cf. Isa. 59:1:66:14). Response to this evangelistic work was very good. Perhaps these Gentiles were "God-fearers"similar to the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius.480Perhaps they were pagans who were not Jewish proselytes but were open to the message of life because of their dissatisfaction with paganism.481Probably both types of Gentiles responded.
"The combination of faith (pisteusas) and of turning (epestrepsen) is another common way to express salvation in Acts."482
11:22-24 As the apostles had done previously when they had heard of the Samaritans' salvation, they investigated when word of the salvation of Gentiles reached Jerusalem (8:14-15). They chose a representative to visit the scene to evaluate what was happening. The Lord obviously controlled these men in their choice of an observer. Barnabas (cf. 4:36-37) was an excellent man for this mission since he, like some of the evangelists in Antioch, was from Cyprus. He was also a more broad-minded Hellenist. Furthermore he was a positive, encouraging person (4:36). Finally, he was full of the Holy Spirit, faith, and goodness.
"Although he came of a Dispersion family, he was regarded with complete confidence in Jerusalem and acted as a pivot point or link between the Hebrew and Hellenistic elements in the church."483
Barnabas rejoiced when he observed God's grace at work in Antioch, and, true to his name (son of encouragement, 4:36), he encouraged the new converts to remain faithful to the Lord. Even more people became believers because of Barnabas' ministry to these Christians. Traditionally Luke came from Antioch,484so perhaps he was one of the converts.
Luke may have described Barnabas in such glowing terms because this was a crisis for the early church. Much depended on how Barnabas would react, what he would do, and what he would report back to the mother church in Jerusalem. The evangelization of Gentiles was at stake.
11:25 As the church in Antioch continued to grow, Barnabas and perhaps others sensed the need for Saul's help. Consequently Barnabas set out to track him down in Tarsus, where Saul had gone (9:30). Saul was an ideal choice for this work since God had given him a special appointment to evangelize Gentiles (22:21). Moreover he had considerable experience in ministry already, probably about nine years of it since his conversion.485
Some Bible scholars have deduced that Saul's family in Tarsus had disinherited him (cf. Phil. 3:8). Some also believe he endured some of the afflictions he described in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 while he ministered in and around Tarsus. These included persecution by the Jews, probably for trying to evangelize Gentiles. Furthermore some say he had the revelation to which he referred in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 while he was ministering near there. He was undoubtedly very active in missionary work around Tarsus during his residence there even though we have no record of it.
11:26 Barnabas had earlier sponsored Saul in Jerusalem (9:27). Now Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch where they ministered together for a year teaching and leading the church.
Luke noted another advance for the church in that observers called the believers "Christians"(lit. those belonging to Christ's party, i.e., Christ followers) first in Antioch. In other words, people now distinguished the Christians as a group from religious Jews as well as from pagan Gentiles (cf. 1 Cor. 10:32). There are only three occurrences of the name "Christian"in the New Testament, and in each case Christians did not use it of themselves (cf. 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16).486
"Note the three elements in the name [Christian]. (i) It contains Jewish thought, as the equivalent of Messiah, the Anointed.487(ii) It shows the Greek languagein the substantive--'Christ.' (iii) It also includes the Latin languagein the adjectival ending ians' (Latin, iani). This universality is a reminder of the language of the title on the Cross."488
"They [those who used this name for believers in Jesus] . . . voiced an insight that the Christians themselves only saw clearly later on: Christianity is no mere variant of Judaism."489
11:27 Prophets were still active in the church apparently until the completion of the New Testament canon. A prophet was a person to whom God had given ability to speak for Him (forth-telling, cf. 1 Cor. 14:1-5), which in some cases included the ability to receive and announce new revelation (fore-telling).
"The Jews believed that with the last of the [Old Testament] writing prophets, the spirit of prophecy had ceased in Israel; but the coming Messianic Age would bring an outpouring of God's Spirit, and prophecy would again flourish. The early Christians, having experienced the inauguration of the Messianic Age [i.e., the age of fulfillment], not only proclaimed Jesus to be the Mosaic eschatological prophet (cf. 3:22; 7:37) but also saw prophecy as a living phenomenon within the church (cf. also 13:1; 15:32; 21:9-10) and ranked it among God's gifts to his people next to that of being an apostle (cf. 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11)."490
11:28 God fulfilled Agabus' prophecy (cf. 21:10). In the reign of Emperor Claudius (A.D. 41-54) there was a series of severe famines and poor harvests in various parts of the Roman Empire.491The Romans used the Greek word oikoumene("world,"lit. inhabited world) in exaggeration to refer to the Roman Empire (cf. Luke 2:1).
11:29 The Christians in Antioch demonstrated love for and unity with their brethren in Jerusalem by sending them some relief money. Luke previously documented the love and generosity of the Jerusalem Christians for one another (2:42; 4:32-35). Now he revealed that the Antioch Christians even surpassed them by sharing what they had with another congregation. The giving was voluntary and according to the ability that each Christian possessed (cf. 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:7).
11:30 The church leaders chose Barnabas and Saul to carry the gift to Jerusalem. There they gave it to the "elders"(Gr. presbyteroi). This is the first use of that word in Acts. It can refer to older men chronologically (cf. 1 Tim. 5:1) or to officers in the church (Tit. 1:5). Probably the latter meaning is in view here since official leaders would probably have been responsible to distribute the gift. Evidently the apostles had set up elders as they had "the Seven"to facilitate the ministry there. Elders were common in Jewish synagogue worship where they served as overseers. As time passed, this organizational structure became normal in Christian churches as well.
The visit to which Luke referred here probably took place about 46 A.D. when Judea suffered from a severe famine.492This so-called famine visit to Jerusalem is probably the one Paul referred to in Galatians 2:1-10.493
As the Jerusalem church had ministered to the church in Antioch by providing leadership and teaching, the Antioch church now was able to minister to the Jerusalem church with financial aid (cf. Gal. 6:6). Luke probably included this reference to this relief to illustrate, among other things, the strength of the Gentile church outside Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.
"The summary of the establishment of the church in Antioch presents an important new development, both geographically and ethnically. The gospel reaches a major city of the empire and finds a ready response from people of Greek culture, including Gentiles. The narrator pulls together threads from the preceding narrative, especially chapters 2 and 8, and weaves them into a tapestry to describe the new phase of the mission."494
